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BY DARCY NELSON

In print | October 21, 2004

The women’s cross country team is full of surprises.

At last weekend’s Seven Sisters meet, hosted by Mount Holyoke, Sarah Hobbs ’06 took first place with a time of 18:02.1. Once again, Hobbs achieved a veteran time in her first year as a harrier. Hobbs ran seven seconds faster than national-qualifier Tracy Bessett from Wellesley and fifteen seconds better than Joanna Simonis from Bryn Mawr.

Hobbs is only the third Swarthmore runner in history to win the Seven Sisters Tournament. Maria-Elena Young ’04 took first place in the tournament in 2002 when it was hosted by Smith. Jokotade Agunloye ’01 won Seven Sisters at Wellesley in 1999 and at Vassar in 2000 . In six years, a Swarthmore runner has crossed the finish line first at the Seven Sisters meet four times.

Hobbs’ time ranks as the second-fastest in Seven Sisters history, surpassed only by Jen Marazano, who ran the 5K course in 18:01 in 1993.

Hobbs is also competing on the soccer team in addition to cross country. She competed with the soccer team at Bates over fall break before winning Seven Sisters for the cross country team.

“After spending about 30 hours on the bus in Maine I think my legs were just ready to move again,” she said. “It’s easy to get fired up and try to win the race in the first mile, but then you get to the first mile and realize you have two more to go. But our whole team went out really smart.”

With a mile left to go, Hobbs trailed the leader by 10-15 seconds. “I thought, ‘man, I better get going’,” she said. With about 400 meters to go, Hobbs passed Bessett. “The finish line felt like it was crawling away but I caught it eventually. It was the first race I’ve ever won, so that was really exciting,” Hobbs said.

In addition to Hobbs’ victory, the women’s cross country team took third place behind defending three-time champion Wellesley and Smith. The Tide finished ahead of Haverford, which has a very strong running program.

“We haven’t beaten Haverford in a meet since I’ve been here,” coach Peter Carroll said. “It’s been a while.” The Fords finished in fourth place, eight points behind the Tide. Swarthmore was only two points behind Smith.

The team had a day of great races. “Everyone ran really well,” Molly Maurer ’06 said. “Our team had a great race with so many people getting [personal records].”

Five Swarthmore runners made it into the top 25. Carrie Ritter ’06 took ninth place, with a time of 18:56.4, earning her a spot on the All-Tournament team along with Hobbs.

“I tried not to think of my position during the first mile, when I saw a huge group of Haverford and Wellesley runners in front of me, but instead concentrated on running a controlled pace,” Ritter said. “I started to pick off the runners in front of me one at a time during the second mile, and still felt good enough to really drop down the pace for the third.” Ritter’s time, a personal best, also helped her achieve the goals she set for herself. “I really wanted to finish at a high place to help our team score, and I was also aiming to finish in the top ten, which determines the All-Seven Sisters team,” Ritter said.

Elizabeth Gardner ’05 crossed the finish line at 19:10.8, in 17th place. Next came Kavita Hardy ’08 in 21st, with a time of 19:37.6, and Emily Wistar ’06 in 22nd, with a time of 19:38.0. All of the top seven runners earned personal best times at the race.

“Kavita ran one of the strongest races of the season,” said Carroll. “In previous races, she had been starting out a little fast, so I told her to run with Pam [Davis ’07] and Emily.” Learning how to pace greatly improved her time.

The team was happy to rank higher than Haverford at the end of the day. “We were so excited to beat Haverford since it’s been so long,” Wistar said. “Haverford has depth, but we are all very strong runners, and we proved that at Seven Sisters.”

Finishing ahead of Haverford has advantages and disadvantages for the upcoming conference meet. “It was great to finish ahead of them, because now we know that we can beat them,” Carroll said. “On the other hand, now they know to watch out for us at conferences.”

The team will travel to McDaniel on Oct. 30 to compete in the Centennial Conference championship meet.

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